I thought I’d add my own experience that pretty-well matches that of Fry Koskenin and CanyonMonster.
I bought this kit for to address three main issues: the toe-in foot position which drives me nuts, my right heel riding on the Termi heatshield, and most importantly, allow me to get a decent knee-lock on the tank during cornering. I should add now that I’m physically pretty average height and weight and I always ride in full leathers. I ride in Sidi race boots and have a size 10 foot, so nothing out of the norm. I also have TechSpec tank pads fitted.
Ok, so first thing. Unless you are mechanically competent and have a well-stocked tool box and access to a power bleeder, you’re in for a frustrating time and will end up at a workshop to get the brakes bled. So be prepared.
The main issue I have with the kit is with the brake lever. If you set the offset footpegs at anywhere between the 9 o’clock and 3 o’clock positions, you will *never* be able the reach the brake pedal; it simply does not have the range of upward adjustment to match the height of the footpegs. So there goes 50% of your adjustable footpeg range options. Also, if you set the pegs between the 3 o’clock and 6 o’clock positions, the gap between the footpeg (because it’s in a forward position) and the brake lever is very short, again making it very difficult to press the lever because it’s now under the rear of the ball of your foot and not towards the toe. Additionally, If you match the footpeg position on the LHS, there’s not enough room between the peg and the gear lever to allow a normal size boot to get under the beg and lift the lever. Neither the gear or brake lever is adjustable for length to compensate for the ‘offsetability’ of the footpegs. It looks to me like the brake lever is recycled from a sports bike where the pegs are more rearward and the angle of the rider’s leg and foot is far more angled than the upright position we have in the Monsters. Maybe it’s just me, and I do like a slightly higher, but not extraordinarily so, brake lever, but the range is just not there. Oddly, there’s no trouble getting the gear lever to the right hight – plenty of adjustability over on that side.
I too have noticed that if you tighten up the footpeg retaining screw to a normally ‘sufficient’ torque, the gear and brake levers bind significantly. There are no torque specifications in the assembly instructions. I hope that the pegs don’t come loose on a ride.
I’m also not convinced about the way the rear brake pushrod enters the master cylinder at an angle – for a start it’s mechanically inefficient and I wonder about the long-term effect of the piston being pushed at an angle. Someone didn’t think this through very well. You can see it quite clearly in the photos on Page 1 of this thread. Also, for reasons only known to Ducabike, they changed the brake pedal leverage ratio significantly from the stock ratio; my experience is you have to press the Ducabike lever much further than the stock lever to actuate the rear brakes. Couple this with a ‘low’ lever, even when it’s adjusted as high as it can go, and it’s all starting to look and feel a bit ordinary.
As ConyonMonster noted, the heel guards are sharp-edged and catch on the zip seam of my Sidi boots occasionally.
And speaking of the heel guards, the way they are located on the rearsets means they completely block access to the swingarm pivot. Why is this important? It means I can’t easily use my brilliant ABBA bike stand, which is one of the best and most useful bike stands around and it works by engaging the swingarm pivots. So now I have to dismantle the damn rearsets and *remove* the RHS one to use the ABBA stand.
Finally, the way the installation forces a 90-degree twist in the line from the master cylinder to the ABS unit is completely dodgy and worries me to the extent that I’m going to get a new custom line made.
After a lot of check rides and messing around, I’ve reach a point where I’m not going to pursue these issues with the local distributor or with Ducabike. I just couldn’t be bothered. My settings let me get a reasonably decent but not perfect tank lock and have absolutely fixed the toe-in riding position and the heel-on-the-exhaust-shield annoyance.
For reference, my footpegs are set at the 8 o’clock position, the rearsets are mounted on their fully-forward and highest position, and the brake lever and its toe-eccentric are all set as high as they can go.
Ideally, I’d like the footpegs more forward and higher, but unfortunately with the brake lever the way it is, that’s just not possible. I might move the rearsets back one hole to see if I can get enough clearance to use my ABBA stand on the LHS, but even doing that means unscrewing the heel guards every time.
FWIW, I did feed this back, with photos, to the local distributor, but their response was definitely not customer-centric. Everything from “you got air in your lines” (I don’t, and that does not affect the lever height) to “Ducabike have sold over 400 of these, so there can’t be anything wrong”.
So, all in all, the best I can say is 5/10 for this kit. It looks like a bit of rush job assembled from other parts in the parts bin, particularly the brake lever – it’s just not a kit where all the parts work in unison. The machining of the mounts and other parts is very good, but the term “full adjustable” could be considered a bit misleading. It’s a bit disappointing, really.
If I get bored, I’m going to physically inspect the M1200R footpeg setup and take one for a spin to assess the foot posiiton. I have in mind how to do the mods to retrofit these to the M1200/S but it will mean sacrificing the pillion pegs and working out how to support the silencers, but where there’s a will, there’s a way..
Happy riding, everyone.